Nicky Buckley admits that a stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! was the last thing she expected to be on her 2025 bingo card.
“I’m still in disbelief that I agreed to go ahead with this,” Nicky told New Idea from South Africa, just a few days before she headed into camp.
With a laugh, she adds: “I’m a girl who likes her coffee and nice sheets. What was I thinking?!”

On a more serious note, Nicky, 59, explains why she’s really forgoing her creature comforts –to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. Sadly, she lost her mother, Joan, to the disease some 20 years ago.
“Mum was only a few years older than I am now and there were no detectable symptoms for her until it was too late,” the former Sale of the Century co-host explains. “I’m doing [the show] for Mum.”

As there can often be a genetic link to ovarian cancer, Nicky voluntarily opted to have a full hysterectomy last year.
“I got myself checked out every year, but the worry that I could get the same diagnosis as Mum was always there,” she tells us.
“It was just getting a bit too close to the bone for me.
“I didn’t want to have that worry hanging over my head anymore and decided to go ahead with the operation.”
Nicky also wanted to prioritise her health for her family. She is the proud mum of three adult sons – Cooper, 27, Jasper, 26, and Baxter, 22 – and has been happily married to her husband, Murray Bingham, since March 1992.
“It was a big operation, but one many women go through every year and I’m just grateful that I had the choice,” she continues.
“I have absolutely no regrets.”

Nicky has long been an ambassador for Ovarian Cancer Australia. She says facing some fears – like sleeping on a grubby camp bed and even eating some indescribably disgusting food on I’m A Celebrity – is a small price to pay to support her charity.
“I’m also keen to show my boys that Mum is totally putting herself out of her comfort zone – and that’s OK,” she shares.
“I want [them to see] that you can get through anything and come out the other side, even if you are super scared. It’s also OK to be scared.”

As well as being able to shine a much-needed light on ovarian cancer research, Nicky is looking forward to getting to know her fellow campmates. South Africa is also a country she has always wanted to visit, so she is chuffed to be ticking it off her bucket list.
“I’ve always loved the idea of heading [here] to go on a lovely safari with my husband,” she says.
“Heading into the jungle for I’m A Celebrity is not how I was expecting to finally get here … but I’m excited.”